Ed Policy and Music Teacher Preparation

This weekend I had the opportunity of co-presenting a session on embedding educational policy issues in music teacher preparation coursework at the bi-annual Symposium on Music Teacher Education in North Carolina. It was a pleasure to work with our newest Jacobs School of Music music education colleague, Dr. Lauren Kapalka-Richerme and IU JSOM alumna, Dr. Carla Aguilar who is currently coordinator of music education at Metropolitan State University in Denver, Colorado.

This is us enjoying the day! And here is a link to our presentation slides: Aguilar, Miksza, Richerme – Policy – SMTE – 2013.

Also, check out the SMTE Policy ASPA Facebook page here: SMTE POLICY

Finding Out About Current Educational Policies

The first section of our presentation dealt with resources for staying current on relevant educational policies. Here is a summary list of links to some great sources of information from Dr. Kapalka-Richerme:

• Education Policy Websites/Listservs
  • edweek
  • NY Times Education
  • NEA Ed Votes
  • National Education Policy Center
• Education Blogs
  • edweek blogs
  • Diane Ravitch
  • Grant Wiggins
  • Chronicle of Higher Education
• Arts Education Policy Websites/Listservs
  • NAfME Music Advocacy Groundswell
  • Americans for the Arts
  • Voter Voice – Americans for the Arts
• Current Policies
  • Race to the Top
  • NCLB/ESEA Flexibility Information
  • Common Core Standards
  • Revisions to the National Arts Standards
  • NAfME Teacher Evaluation Information

Incorporating Educational Policy in Undergraduate Courses

The next section of our presentation was led by Dr. Aguilar and she emphasized the need to focus on undergraduate students’ perceptions of relevance when it comes to incorporating policy issues in course discussions and assignments. Here is a quick list of some of the things she introduces to her students:

• In an introductory music education class…
  • Discuss implications of state standards for music education (State Department of Education)
  • Incorporate important websites, listserves, and blogs (Such as Arnie’s blog from the Chicago Arts Partnership in Education)
  • Encourage students to seek more access to policy information where they are already getting news (Facebook; Twitter)
• In a capstone music education class…
  • Current policy issues learned about in field experience  (teacher evaluation; student growth)
  • State Standards and National Standards for Music Education
  • Continue to access policy information where they are already getting news (Facebook; Twitter)

Incorporating Current Educational Policies in Graduate Courses

This was my section of the presentation and I focused on my approach for embedding educational policy issues within a graduate measurement, evaluation, and guidance course. My approach was to frame the traditional topics in such a way as to demonstrate that issues in measurement and assessment of students and teachers are intimately interconnected with federal, state, and local level educational policies. Here some of the references I included in our handout:

• For referencing issues of federal policy…
  • U.S. Dept. of Ed (2011). Our future, our teachers. http://www.ed.gov/sites/default/files/our-future-our-teachers.pdf
  • Berliner, D. C. (2009). MCLB (Much curriculum left behind): A US catastrophe in the making. The Educational Forum, 73, 284-296.
  • Colwell, Lehman, and Hoffer Keynotes in Brophy, T. S. (Ed.) (2008). Assessment in Music Education: Integrating curriculum, theory, and practice. Chicago, IL: GIA publications, Inc.
  • Common Core, 21^st Century Skills, NAfME (old and new) – web sources above
• For referencing issues of state policy
  • Underwood, J., & Mead, J. F. (2012). A smart ALEC threatens public education. Phi Delta Kappan, 93, 51-55.
  • MEPR’s map of trends in teacher evaluation available on NAfME website
  • Miller, D. L. (2011). Curriculum theory and practice: What’s your style? Phi Delta Kappan, 92, 32-39.
• Teacher Evaluation
  • Newton et al. (2010). Value-added modeling of teacher effectiveness: An exploration of stability across models and contexts. Educational Policy Analysis Archives, 18, 1-24.
  • Darling-Hammond et al. (2012). Evaluating teacher evaluation. Phi Delta Kappan, 93, 8-15.
  • Berliner, D. C. (2001). Learning about and learning from expert teachers. International Journal of Educational Research, 35, 463-482.